More than 3,700 homes in Stoke-on-Trent were still waiting to be built at the start of this year – despite being granted planning permission.

Figures published by Stoke-on-Trent City Council reveal the large gap between the number of proposed homes approved by planners, and the number of units that are actually built. In April, sites across the city with planning permission had capacity for a further 3,758 homes, with 548 under construction.

The oldest permission – for 108 homes on the former Eagles Pottery site in Ivy House, Hanley – dates back to 2006. Twenty-two of these homes remained unbuilt at the start of the year, with none under construction.

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Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Budget that an urgent review was being set up into the gap between planning permissions granted and homes built. He said it could result in direct intervention through compulsory purchases where developers are seen to be dragging their feet.

The Stoke-on-Trent figures were published to help inform a new joint local plan for the city and Newcastle, which will guide development in both areas until 2033.

Land off Lichfield Street, Hanley, has been earmarked for new housing

Stoke-on-Trent has been told it needs to build 804 homes a year in order to meet housing need – but in recent years, this target has been repeatedly missed. Last year, the number of finished properties rose to 748, raising officers’ hopes that confidence has returned to the local housing market following the 2008 crash.

Members of the planning committee raised concerns that developers would choose to build in the Green Belt, where it is cheaper and easier to do so, especially if Government planning policy changes.

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But Harmesh Jassall, strategic manager for planning services, told the committee that reaching the target did not necessarily mean building in the countryside.

He said: “We are moving towards that 804 figure. There isn’t a need to go into the Green Belt. I don’t think this is a significant threat. There are more than enough sites that are not in the Green Belt.”

The Swallows Nest, in Newstead, was bulldozed four years ago and still remains undeveloped

Developers have often been accused of ‘land-banking’ – an issue the Government review, to be chaired by MP Oliver Letwin, will examine. But house builders deny this is a significant problem and say delays in developing sites are down to issues with the planning process.

Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders’ Federation, said: “House builders have nothing to fear from a review of land-banking and, if it identifies non-house builders who are sitting on land and brings that forward for development, it would be a positive move.

“Any review should also focus on why so many plots that some suggest are in a builders ‘land bank’ are mired in the planning system and identify ways to process them more quickly so they can actually be built.”